ABSTRACT
Polymers and surfactants are used extensively in a wide variety of industrial, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical applications. Surfactants are used for altering the wettability, solubilization and emulsification properties by changing the properties of the interfaces involved. The gelation itself may be due to network formation and entanglement brought about by the surfactant micelles. Viscosity increases and gel formation in polyaision-cationic surfactant systems are also reported by Thalberg and Lindman for hyaluronan and polyacrylate polymers in combination with alkyltrimethylammonium bromide surfactants. Polymer-surfactant interaction can be expected to influence the swellingdeswelling characteristics of polymeric gels. It is well known that polyelectrolyte gels that are used as super absorbents for water under physiological conditions can lose their absorbing capacity because of electrolyte effects. The effect of the polymer also can be viewed as the polymer/protein providing an alternate substrate for surfactant binding and thus competing with the substrate for the surfactant molecules.
